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6 Investigates Follows-Up: Some progress on City utility billing woes

Posted at 8:31 PM, Apr 22, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-22 21:36:46-04

The man tapped by the City Council to lead the embattled IT department out of its recent troubles is up for a contract extension, 6 Investigates has learned.

Peter Collins, who came on the scene late last year to help get a citywide software issue under control and is now the interim IT Director, could receive up to $160,000 under the terms of the new deal, which is up for Council consideration on Tuesday.

The 8-month agreement, recommended by interim City Manager Keith Selman, would allow Collins to bring closure to a variety of high-priority software problems plaguing the city’s enterprise software system.

The systems have been at the root of vast and costly utility billing problems that have led to widespread complaints inaccurate, incomplete and at times, even missing invoices for city water and gas customers.

Collins says the problems, though complex, are being addressed one-by-one. He says customers should now be able to finally see and calculate all fees and charges on their monthly bills. He says he is confident the city now has a repeatable, dependable process for issuing bills, each month.

He says the coming months will see improvements to other city departments affected by the Infor platforms like HR, Accounts Receivable and Payables and Finance.

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